I use to work in a tyre store some years ago. Tony's to be precise. The best idea is to shop around, go to four stores and get prices on similar tyres. Once chosen bargaining with the store to see if you can drive the price down further.

Tyres can have very little mark-up or large mark-up depending on what deals they have received from there tyre supplier.

They could be receiving a tyre in a $80 and selling for $180. So depending on how much bargaining you do you can get quite a bit taken off.

If you can't get any money off the tyres, try for the extras like half price alignment, free balancing, and free valves. All these extras add up and tyre stores are more than happy to come down in these pieces then the tyres themselves.

With a quote, always get the quote to include valves and balancing with the tyre, otherwise they will add those charges on. Also get a quote on an alignment deal with the tyres, although not usually necessary. I have found Beurepairs to be really expensive, and last time they didn't fix my puncture properly (paid repair) and it still has a slow puncture, despite returning it for them to redo. Tonys is the cheapest, and as good CS too, plus free PR's.

Thanks for all the input, i will definitely take all this into consideration and compare dealers prices once they all come in. I sent out a generic email this morning asking for a quote with several options to 4 dealers. Tyre general came back within 30 mins and i havnt heard back from the rest yet.

as it stands the GT Radial Champrio 228's with fitting/balance/valves at $255 a tyre doesnt sound too bad judging by the reviews ive read of it. however will definetly wait and see what the other dealers can come up with.

garvani: Thanks for all the input, i will definitely take all this into consideration and compare dealers prices once they all come in. I sent out a generic email this morning asking for a quote with several options to 4 dealers. Tyre general came back within 30 mins and i havnt heard back from the rest yet.

as it stands the GT Radial Champrio 228's with fitting/balance/valves at $255 a tyre doesnt sound too bad judging by the reviews ive read of it. however will definetly wait and see what the other dealers can come up with.

Give them a few days for emails. Usually faster to ring them, but then you don;t have it in writing. Last time I emails tonies, I got an email in 30 minutes, and thin their CS is as good as anyone.

The car a Holden Commodore S, came with Bridgestone asymmetric tyres which were good but hellish expensive. I replaced these with Goodyear Eagle FI GS-D3s which were also good, when I bought these I was also recommended the Toyos but I had already decided on the Goodyears.

Next time around the Goodyears had got a but pricey so I went with the Toyos. I'm now on about my 4th set. Like the Goodyears the Toyos are uni directional. They are excellent in the wet especially in standing water. They wear well, I get 45-50,000 km from them without being too careful. They are a very good tyre at a good price.

I just up sized my rims from little 17x7's to 18x9.5 and 18x8.5. I'm not looking forward to needing new tyres.

Tyres are real expensive now though. 6 months ago I got a pair of nankang ns2 235/40x17's for 320 for the pair. When I had to get some 225/40x18's for my new wheels I requested them knowing they are cheap but still preform well. Over $300 each.

mattwnz: With a quote, always get the quote to include valves and balancing with the tyre, otherwise they will add those charges on. Also get a quote on an alignment deal with the tyres, although not usually necessary. I have found Beurepairs to be really expensive, and last time they didn't fix my puncture properly (paid repair) and it still has a slow puncture, despite returning it for them to redo. Tonys is the cheapest, and as good CS too, plus free PR's.

I had two new front tyres put on my car by Tonys, afterward the steering wheel pointed slightly left when the car was going straight. I had them do an alignment ($50 because I had a coupon for another place, great price) and they fixed it all up. You can't fault their service.

Incidentally, I have a voucher for a wheel alignment in Porirua, Wellington, expiring at the end of the month. It cost me $50, and I won't be using it. If anyone's interested in buying it off me, reasonable offers, please PM/mail me.

I ended up with the GT Radial Champiro 228's, could have got some Kumho's a bit cheaper but from the reviews i seen the GT's are the best performance to value that i could find.. plus tyre genral do a 5 year warranty, free puncture repair and tyre roatation, so couldn't ask for much more really. $1100 was a bit hard to swallow but ill live :)

From what I've heard the Khumos are a good tyre too, however I think you'll be very happy with the Champiros, people I know that have used them reckon they're pretty good. For me it's comforting to know I'm riding on good rubber, it's one area thats definitely worth spending a bit more cash.

A cheap alternative is what we have done for some time. Get your own casings retreaded with Bandag preformed. Bandag are legal on commercial and military aircraft and have been used on the shuttle. Our old Terrano has done about 80,000 k on each set, handles fine on the road (not a racer) and really well in mud. Cheers.

I just replaced the pirelli pzeros on the front of my rx7 with bridgestone adrenalin re001s. (255x40x r18) I like them alot. More then the pzeros which they replaced and the pzeros are much much more expensive.(as in about $1k each). I think the re001s costed me about $280 each fitted/balanced. Iv got the dunlop direzza dz101s on the back which are also quite nice. im not sure which i prefer, they are both very good tyres. Dont cheap out on rubber, I think get the re001's if you can stretch the $ that far.

Be a bit careful with Tony's. Been going there for ages. Last time I called up with the details on the current tyre's. Was given a couple of options and narrowed down to some Firestone's. They gave me the price that they said was the best they could do. Called Firestone just to check and was given a price $20 per tyre less with no bargaining at all. They also were more then $20 less on the wheel alignment. Tony's might beat a competitors price but ONLY if you do your homework. Personally I am sick of having to call around a bunch of stores with no intention of buying their product just so I can get a slightly better price at Tony's. This time around Firestone got my custom.